quote:
Auburn doesn't run the read option nearly as much as they look, at least according to Gus himself. What they do is show the read option on nearly every play. The defense doesn't know if its going to be a half back dive, a QB keeper, or even an honest to goodness read option. What gives Auburn the advantage is that they know before the play where the ball is going and who is going to have it.

You have to be smart on defense to slow it down, but it can be done. However, Auburn's attack is particularly hard to solve because Gus is very smart about setting up plays in advance and waiting for the other team to give Auburn the match up he wants for a big play.

Lot of truth here.

We basically ran the triple option on steroids last year. As we started getting more and more into the season and Marshall got more comfortable, there were almost always at least 3-4 different options he had on any given running play. Add in the fact that we started using the pass as part of the play action - i.e. the Coates TD at the end of the Iron Bowl - and it turns into a whole other animal.

When you've got as much speed as we do on offense, the defense can't wait to react. They basically have to pick their poison and go one way or another, almost like a penalty kick in soccer, or risk giving up a huge play. They may pick correctly from time to time, but that's when Malzahn will start seeing tendencies on certain plays and set up something for later based on a play that gets stuffed. When you have to make that many decisions that quickly on defense, they either freeze or get out of their assignment. Add to the fact that we start going fast, the defense gets worn down and they start to get beat mentally and physically late in the game.

This is a pretty good article that goes a little into how his offense works and a bit of his philosophy on it.

LINK

"It's not that he sticks with the same play," Craig said. "It's that he's calling it for a reason."
...
"We have plays that we haven't even run yet, but they complement something else, and when the defense makes an adjustment, we already know what adjustment to make to what they do," Craig said. "I haven't been around a guy who's able to make adjustments that fast on the run during the course of a game."

Every once in a while, Craig says, Malzahn will pop into the headset and ask his assistants if they're ready to score a touchdown, because he's got the play for it.

More often than not, the next play ends up in the end zone.